Semua Bab I Faked Being a Boy, Now the Alpha is my Mate: Bab 11 - Bab 20

JORDANRonan let out a harsh, pained wheeze, his hazel eyes flashing with a mixture of profound exhaustion and genuine frustration as he desperately gripped my forearm to alleviate the crushing pressure. "I swear to the Goddess that I knew absolutely nothing about the betrothal until the Alpha formally announced it to the inner circle this morning, Jordan," Ronan choked out, his voice rough and strained from the compounding physical injuries I kept inflicting upon him. "You are losing your mind, and you are attacking the wrong people."I stared deep into his eyes, searching for any fleeting sign of deception, before finally shoving him violently away from the tree with a disgusted, heavy sigh. I turned my back on him and continued walking toward the distant, glowing lights of the Packhouse, retreating deep into my own mind as I desperately began plotting my next, calculated move in this impossible, suffocating game of chess.The following afternoon felt entirely like a surreal, waking

EMBERLY LYNN"I am absolutely not stepping onto that ice!" I shouted in sheer panic, my voice cracking slightly as I pointed a trembling finger toward the massive, terrifying players. "I am strictly here for academic supervision, and I do not know the very first thing about playing defensive hockey!""He is a fragile, untrained civilian, Coach, and if you put him on the ice during an aggressive contact drill, somebody is going to accidentally snap his scrawny neck in half," Jordan argued vehemently, stepping defensively between me and the coach with his jaw clenched tight."I do not care about either of your pathetic complaints," the coach barked, tossing a massive, heavily padded chest protector and a battered helmet directly at my feet. "Put the oversized gear over your clothes, Emberly, and get out on the blue line. You do not have to skate, you simply have to stand there and act as an annoying, physical obstacle so Draven can practice his lateral evasion techniques against a live

JORDAN The freezing, recycled air of the collegiate ice rink burned the back of my throat with every desperate, heavy breath I took, but I welcomed the sharp physical pain. I skated with a brutal, punishing intensity during the morning drills, aggressively driving my heavy shoulder into the plexiglass boards and completely ignoring the burning exhaustion radiating through my thighs. I was doing absolutely everything in my physical power to keep my eyes locked onto the black puck sliding across the ice, because if I allowed my gaze to wander toward the player benches for even a fraction of a second, I knew I would look at him.DAMN IT!Emberly was standing near the penalty box, buried inside that ridiculous, oversized gray hoodie, dutifully recording our lateral evasion times on his digital tablet. My wolf was pacing furiously against the iron bars of my mind, whining and snarling, violently demanding that I cross the ice and claim the boy who smelled of rain and crushed wildflowers

EMBERLYJust twenty minutes before Jordan completely lost his mind on the ice, I was standing quietly near the staff benches, diligently logging the lateral speed metrics on my digital tablet. The freezing air was biting aggressively through my oversized hoodie, but I was doing my absolute best to remain entirely invisible.That plan was completely ruined when the heavy arena doors opened and the Ice Queen herself arrived.She walked into the stadium like she owned the entire Junylria territory, flanked by four terrifyingly large security guards who looked ready to snap someone's neck for simply breathing too loudly. She wore an immaculate, blindingly white coat that probably cost more than my entire lifetime of wages. I watched in absolute disgust as she haughtily ordered one of her massive guards to force a freshman student to move from his seat simply so she could have the "best possible view" of the ice. I instantly pegged her as a spoiled entitled bitch who had never heard the

EMBERLY LYNNWOOD The freezing, biting autumn wind whipped aggressively through the towering concrete canyons of the college campus, forcing me to bury my freezing hands deep into the oversized pockets of my heavy gray hoodie as I hurried away from the literature building. The sprawling, bustling metropolis of Junylria always felt exactly like an overwhelming sensory overload, a massive city filled with honking yellow taxis, towering glass skyscrapers, and thousands of rushed pedestrians who were completely oblivious to the dangerous decisions secretly running their government."Emberly! Hey, wait up a second!" a bright, familiar voice called out over the loud ambient noise of the busy street.I stopped walking and turned around to see Nina jogging quickly toward me, her bright red curls bouncing wildly around her face as she clutched a massive stack of heavy textbooks to her chest. A genuine, relieved smile broke through my exhausted, defensive facade as she finally caught up to me